The Girl Who Was Born That Way is the story of the Berk family, not exactly an ordinary Jewish family, trying to bury its Holocaust past while starting over in post-war USA. The novel centers on the dynamics between the family’s four daughters, the two oldest girls who grew up in the Lodz Ghetto and he two youngest who came of age in an idyllic American suburb. The story is told from the perspective of the youngest child in the family, whose sisterly love and compassion drive the novel’s action. Can her curiosity bring the family’s dark Holocaust history into the open? Can she save her anorexic third sister whose short stature and physical anomalies are a source of family embarrassment and shame? The Girl Who Was Born That Way considers the life of immigrants living in the diaspora, the miracle of their survival and their helplessness when faced with the disabling condition of their third daughter.

Gail Benick is the published author of two works of fiction, The Girl Who Was Born That Way (2015) and Memory’s Shadow (2021). Her short stories and personal essays have appeared in Canadian literary journals and media outlets. A retired professor from Sheridan College, she currently teaches memoir writing for seniors in Toronto. www.gailbenick.com

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